BEING CHARGED FOR FREE ACCOUNT

Debra Briggs 40 Reputation points
2026-06-17T19:31:14.5766667+00:00

THE MICROSOFT BUSINESS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FREE WHEN I PURCHASED THIS COMPUTER, BUY THEY STARTED CHARGING ME SO I CANCELLED IT AND THEY ARE STILL CHARGEING MY CARD AND WILL NOT LET ME DELETE THE CARD OFF THE ACCOUNT

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For business | Windows
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Anonymous
2026-06-17T20:51:02.7333333+00:00

Hi @Debra Briggs, 

Thank you for reaching out and for sharing your concern. 

Before we go any further, I’d like to gently clarify that this is a user to user support forum. I’m not part of the Microsoft billing team, so I don’t have the ability to directly cancel subscriptions or intervene on billing matters. That said, I truly hope I can help review your situation, offer some guidance, and support you in finding the right next steps as best as possible.   

Based on your description, the best path forward is to work directly with the Microsoft Billing team. The reason they are the most suitable point of contact is that they have secure access to the actual billing records, payment history, and account status tied to your profile. Issues involving active charges, refunds, cancelled services that are still billing, and locked or undeletable payment methods all require account level verification and changes that can only be handled by that team.  

To get connected with them quickly, please follow these steps: 

  1. Create a ticket to Microsoft Support 

Sign in at https://admin.microsoft.com and go to Support > Help & Support to open a new service request, then describe your billing issue. This creates a tracked ticket so your case can be followed up on directly. 

For guidance on how to request support in the admin center, please refer to: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin. 

  1. Contact Microsoft Support by phone 

You can try reaching out to our Global Customer Service phone to raise a request here: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support. 

Before you reach out, it will help to have the following details ready so the team can locate and resolve the issue faster: 

  • The email address tied to the subscription or account being charged. 
  • The order number or subscription ID, if available. 
  • The last four digits of the card being charged, along with the charge dates and amounts. 
  • The date you cancelled the subscription and any confirmation number you received. 
  • A brief note of what you are requesting, such as stopping the recurring charges, a refund for the charges applied after cancellation, and removal of the card from the account. 

Having these on hand will speed up verification and allow the team to act on your request right away. 

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow the steps above and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can continue working together to resolve the issue.  

Thank you for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions or need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out so I can continue to support you. If you found the response useful, please consider marking it as accepted, as this may help other community members who are looking for similar guidance.  

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.     

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AI answer

2026-06-17T19:31:26.4566667+00:00

Follow these steps to stop the charges and remove the card.

  1. Confirm what is actually being charged
    • Go to the Manage your payments page of the Microsoft account dashboard that is using the card.
    • Find the charge and select Investigate to see whether it is a Microsoft 365 subscription, OneDrive, or another Microsoft service.
    • If you don’t recognize the charge or account, follow the investigation flow on that page.
  2. Make sure the correct account is used
    • Sign in with the same Microsoft account that was used when the “free” Microsoft 365/Business offer was activated. If a different Microsoft account is signed in, the subscription and payment method will not appear.
  3. Check and cancel the subscription properly
    • Go to Services & subscriptions for that account and look for any Microsoft 365 or other paid subscriptions.
    • If recurring billing is still on, turn it off or cancel the subscription using the steps in Unable to cancel your Microsoft subscription.
    • If you don’t see a cancel option:
      • Check whether the subscription was bought through a third party (for example, retailer, Google Play, Apple App Store). If so, cancellation and card removal must be done with that seller or store.
      • Make sure there is no overdue balance. If money is owed, cancellation is blocked until the overdue amount is paid.
  4. Understand why charges may continue after cancellation
    • If cancellation was done less than 2 days before the billing date, one more payment can still be taken. Check the subscription end date on the Subscriptions page to confirm when charges should stop.
  5. Request a refund if appropriate
    • After cancelling, use the refund flow in How to get a refund on a Microsoft subscription to see if the last charge is eligible for a refund.
  6. If the card still cannot be removed
    • If the subscription is fully cancelled, no balance is due, and the card still cannot be removed, contact Microsoft Billing Support so an agent can check the account and payment profile.
    • If the charge or account truly cannot be found or stopped, contact the bank or card issuer to dispute the recurring charge and request that they block future Microsoft debits from that card.

References:

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  1. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2026-06-18T08:15:23.2766667+00:00

    Check with the PC manufacturer or the reseller. Maybe there is a special offer which you can claim. For subscriptions, this would mean a prepaid one-year subscription (occasionally fifteen months).

    However, in many cases, a preinstalled Office subscription is just a trial version. After the trial period is over, it will be converted to a paid subscription, unless you cancel in time.

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